Located
at the Heiter Community Center • 100 North Fifth Street • Lewisburg,
PA 17837

July 2003

Why
Women Only
Self-Defense and Martial Arts Classes?

CardioKicks!
Fitness Tip of the MonthGood Habits - Healthy Patterns

by Laura Kamienski

There seem to be several common assumptions when
discussing women’s self-defense classes. The first is that training
with men is somehow more ‘intense’ than training without them.
I have learned that not only is this assumption sexist but is simply
false. In all of my experience training in women’s only classes the overall
intensity level is not only equal to but in some instances, is greater
than in mixed sex settings. Fighting a female attacker/training
partner proved no less intense or inferior to fighting a male attacker/training
partner in any way.

No doubt this assumption is based on the common alarmist misinformation
that most assailants of women are far larger and stronger than their
victims. Research shows that there is at least an eighty-percent overlap
in size and strength between men and women. That overlap continues to
increase as more and more women begin to train in physical sports and
activities. Further statistics show that the average rapist is only
about ten to fifteen pounds heavier and about one to three inches taller
than his victim. This is hardly a significant difference warranting the
necessity of male training partners or mock attackers.

Another common assumption is that training with men is universally
more empowering for women. For some women it is empowering
to fight against a male opponent. But, whatever the psychological benefit
of this aspect of training the fact remains that it is a benefit based
on perceptions which are both accurate and inaccurate. The reality is
that violence against women is overwhelmingly committed by men. But the
desire to train against a male opponent is also based on misinformation
about male-female size disparity and on the sexist notion that women are
incapable of fighting as proficiently and effectively as men. This assumption
also neglects to account for the many women who find training with men
to be disempowering. Their experience is often one riddled with diminutive
remarks, demeaning behavior and attempts to undermine and control autonomy
and self-determination.

A third assumption is that women’s spaces are fine for “introductory
classes” only. This implies that advanced training without men
is inferior in some way.This is the same kind of sexist thinking that
has relegated women to secondary roles and status in many arenas. Those
who assert this line allege that the only benefit for training without men
is that it affords women an initial period of “comfort in a foreign environment.”
This is one important aspect of women’s training. However this logic
fails to recognize other, more significant benefits that women’s spaces
provide such as the opportunity for women to make all of their own decisions
free from male dominance, to model women in leadership positions free
from a male vantage point, and the chance to explore self-defense outside
of the traditional M.A.L.E (martial arts, law enforcement) models. Not
to mention the fact that some of the finest advanced training I've had
the opportunity to participate in was in women only classes.

Finally some assume that since we were legally granted access
to male training halls that women have been treated equally there since
1971. Volumes of personal experiences from women martial artists who
had to (and continue to) fight their way into the dojang, to stay there,
and to be treated with any kind of respect at all, refute this claim.
What almost all men fail to recognize is that sexism is so ubiquitous that
even with the best of intentions men often unconsciously act in ways that
undermine women’s autonomy and self-reliance. Because we live in a society
in which women are considered second-class citizens, both overt and subtle
sexism is pervasive and inescapable in any mixed-sex framework. The necessity
for women’s only self-defense stems from this reality.

I find it disconcerting that no one ever questions whether
men were (or are) missing something in training without women. One thing
that perhaps they were (and are) missing is a kind of leadership that
is not only foreign to them but to which they remain resistant.
The irony is that female leadership will never exist until we are afforded
autonomous opportunities to develop it.

Discover
your power.

Twelve hour course: September
6th, 13th, 20th and 27th Call 523-7777 for more information or to register.

When you're angry, frustrated, or
depressed, how do you respond: Cry? Go for a jog? Treat yourself to
a pint Ben & Jerry's?

While all three responses
may make us feel better in the short run, reaching for food for comfort
reinforces unhealthy behavior patterns that may be what helped us to
become overweight in the first place. Next time you find yourself reaching
for that bag of cookies or chips, ask yourself, "How am I feeling?
What do I really need?" If your craving is a response to emotional
turmoil, take a step back, and think of a healthier response rather
than swallowing down your emotions with food. It's difficult, and many
times you'll go ahead and eat the food -- but if even one out of 10 times
you experience the ability to turn to something other than food, it
will be the start of reversing this pattern.

Consider practicing a martial
art. Martial arts have helped many develop healthy patterns that have
turned into a life time of healthy habits.

The next
twelve-hour Empower! Self-Defense for Women level one
course is scheduled for September 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th from
2:00 PM through 5:00 PM. Space is limited. Contact
Kicks for details, and to reserve a place in the class.

A very special thanks to all
those who helped make our move to the Heiter Community Center a great
success!